FreeBSD 9.1 Official Release Nears as PC-BSD 9.1 Debuts

By Sean Michael Kerner | December 19, 2012

From the 'Slightly Delayed Open Source OS' release files:

PC-BSD is a desktop based derivative of FreeBSD and typically PC-BSD releases follow FreeBSD releases. That's not quite the case with the new PC-BSD 9.1 release which is actually coming out *before* the official release of FreeBSD 9.1

FreeBSD 9.1 was originally set for official release at the end of October but has been hit by some delays. Though an official announcement has not yet been made the primary FreeBSD mirror currently has FreeBSD release ISOs available (ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/ISO-IMAGES/9.1/)

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In terms of PC-BSD, the 9.1 release includes a number of new features. Installation has been optimized with the separation of pre and post installation tasks. The installer also now specifies ZFS as the default file system for 64 bit systems with 2 GB or RAM or more. Those systems will now also default to the KDE desktop, while PCs with less than 2GB of RAM will default to 2 GB.

One of the most interesting new pieces from my perspective in the PC-BSD 9.1 release actually isn't a desktop feature, but rather is a server one. While PC-BSD includes the FreeBSD server it also has the ability to deploy a TrueOS server as well. TrueOS is an enhanced version of Free-BSD and includes the PBI (Push Button Installer) Manager.

PC-BSD 9.1 also gains new 'Warden' features. Warden is a sandboxing/virtualization/container type of technology that enables users to run isolated virtual instances. With PC-BSD 9.1, Warden is now fully baked into PC-BSD and can be easily controlled, managed via a control panel.

All told, sure looks like an interesting release and one that will transform PC-BSD usage a bit too.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.